Apples Chief Scientist Leaves To Head A Startup

Apple Computer Inc.s chief scientist and vice president of advanced technology Lawrence Tesler has left the company to head a new startup marketing childrens software, his offices said.

Tesler, who helped lead Apples technical direction during a difficult turnaround effort at Apple, departed on Thursday last week, according to his office at Apple.

Employees at the new company, dubbed Cocoa Software and based here in Palo Alto, said Tesler has accepted the role of president of the company. They declined to provide further details about its financial backers or product strategy.

We do childrens software and were brand new...Larrys the new president, said David Smith, one of the seven employees of the fledgling company. Apple Computer had no immediate comment on Teslers departure, which became public on the eve of a closely watched keynote address by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs at Macworld Expo in Boston, where the company is expected to unveil a new product and business strategy.

Through a work colleague at Cocoa, Tesler declined any immediate comment on his decision to leave Apple. One of his colleagues at Apple said he had departed to take on the challenge of building a new company from the beginning.

Hes off to a new adventure. He was so happy about it. He knew this was the right thing for him to do, the Apple work associate said. It is Apples great loss.

One Apple associate said the departure was amicable.

Alto Research Center (PARC), had been chief scientist at Apple since 1993, where he served the role of technical advisor to the company and managed technical alliances. Tesler joined Apple in 1980 to work as a section manager of applications software for the Lisa personal computer.

Although the Lisa was considered overpriced and underpowered and did not catch on, subsequent Macintosh computers became Apples flagship product line.